Cancer services are receiving record levels of investment, exceeding the government's Cancer Plan promises, according to new figures that show additional spending of £639 million since 2000/1.

Between 2000/1 and 2003/4 the NHS increased its spending on cancer drugs by £192 million and ploughed an extra £230 million into other services, such as the provision of more specialist staff.

The exercise to track additional cancer services funding, and check it was getting through to the frontline, was undertaken following criticism of postcode prescribing from Roche and cancer charities.

Professor Mike Richards, national director for cancer said: "These figures show that the money being allocated to cancer services is making a real difference, with more drugs, staff and equipment being provided."

Under the 2000 NHS Cancer Plan, additional spending of £570 million for cancer services was promised by 2003/4, but this has been exceeded by £69 million taking additional spending to £639 million.

Health minister Rosie Winterton said: "There's still more to do, but we are delivering better treatment, more quickly, to more people than ever before and there are thousands of people alive and well who would not be without these improvements."

In March the National Audit Office's report on the NHS Cancer Plan found that it had been generally well conceived and that substantial progress had been made, with many of the targets met or on course to be met including reducing variations in access to cancer drugs.

In October 2003 a UK-wide survey by Roche found a third of breast cancer patients who could benefit from its NICE-approved drug Herceptin were denied access to it.

NICE recommended the drug in March 2002, giving NHS cancer networks three months to follow its mandatory guidance to prescribe the drug to eligible patients.

Roche's remarkable audit found variations in access to the drug in England, Scotland and Wales, with just 14% of women eligible for treatment receiving the drug in the worst-hit region, the Midlands.

Roche passed its findings on to charity CancerBACUP, which called on the government to make sure NICE guidelines were enforced by watchdog the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (CHAI).

Roche's survey had been preceded by Macmillan Cancer Relief's 2002 Get It Spent Where It's Meant campaign, which also showed money was not getting to the frontline.

Commenting on the latest NHS cancer spending increases, chief executive Peter Cardy said: "Macmillan will keep up the pressure on the Department of Health because this tracking exercise happened for one reason: charities and MPs asked why cancer money wasn't getting spent where its meant.

"Cancer is a unique condition which requires special attention and continued investment. Cancer must remain a local and national disease priority throughout the UK.

Macmillan's campaign asked 28 Strategic Health Authorities for details of how they would spend their portion of the cancer funding. Only 11 were able to provide details of their spending between 2003 to 2004, and just five could give details for spending up to 2006.

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